Netball Analysis of a Performer Below my Standard.

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

AS P.E Coursework – Sarah-Jane Poingdestre

Section B

Netball Analysis of a Performer Below my Standard

The person I have chosen to analyse does not play netball as a sport outside of school. She has played netball as part of compulsory P.E lessons but not as a part of school teams. I observed her in a game situation in a variety of positions and also in a structured practice situation, where I was focusing on particular skills.

Core Skills

Passing/Receiving

The ability to successfully and efficiently pass and receive the ball is central to the game of netball and one of the most basic skills. A person who plays at any level should have a reasonable ability in this area. The performer I observed had fairly good coordination and ability to catch the ball, and rarely dropped it. There were some occasions in a game where she wasn’t quite ready to catch the ball and wasn’t able to adapt quickly to the situation she was put in. When the ball was passed to her above her head she tended not jump for the ball and preferred to wait for the ball to come to her, which meant that several of these passes were quite easily intercepted.. In a game situation she always caught the ball with two hands and in a structured drill she was very reluctant to use one hand to catch ball and had very little control over it. This could be disadvantage in a situation in the goal circle when trying to receive the rebound if the ball is heading off court. A one handed catch is also beneficial when trying to intercept a pass.

In a game situation she favoured chest passes most of the time and there was very little variation in the passes she used throughout the game. There were many situations in the game when a different pass would have been more suitable, however she wasn’t able to adapt to the situation. For example, when two players were defending her and the area was well marked, a bounce pass or an overhead pass might have been a better choice of pass. However, she used a chest pass, which was easily intercepted. She executed her chest passes with the correct technique and the advantage of using a chest pass is that it can be received easily as it is at chest height and can also be adapted for longer and shorter distances. Although she was reluctant to use vary her passes in a game situation, in a practice situation she was able to perform several different passes correctly. She may have been reluctant to use these passes in a game situation due to a lack of experience and confidence.

Footwork

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Footwork

In a game situation her footwork was very inconsistent. She didn’t appear to be properly aware of the footwork rules, and would often take one extra step on landing. There were mistakes made several times on pivoting, by using the wrong foot to pivot on. There were also several occasions where a pivot would have made her passing options much better, but she didn’t take advantage of this and struggled to make a pass from the position she was already in. She always used a one-footed landing. A two-footed landing can be preferential as it provides better cushioning and also the choice of which leg to use as the pivot leg however using a one-footed landing does not necessarily have any disadvantages. There were a couple of times when she overstretched on her landing, which caused a lack of balance. This made it difficult for her to make a successful pass. She usually anticipates the ball quite well, however she sometimes misjudged the arrival of he ball, and would have landed before she caught the ball. She didn’t use any complex footwork skills that you may see an experience player use. In a practice situation her footwork was much more consistent than in a game situation and she seemed more aware of the rules However once in a game situation and under more pressure, she was not able to apply what she could do in practices/drills.

Shooting

The player I analysed favours attacking positions, and her strength within the game is shooting, therefore her shooting skills are of equal standard if not better than mine. Her aim was quite accurate and she was fairly consistent, particularly when in a practice situation. Her close shots are more consistent than her distance shots. When she takes shots from near the edge of the goal circle, they tend to fall short or go much to high. In a game situation she tends to panic and doesn’t take her time over her shots, which means that she is not always as accurate as she could be. Although she is quite a competent shooter, there are some occasions where passing to another player would be better than attempting a shot, for example when either very close of very far away from the goal. However, there were some situations where taking a shot went to her advantage as a pass would have probable been easily intercepted due to a well defended goal circle. In the game she didn’t always recognise these options, and attempted a shot instead, and often an opposing player caught the rebound. She used the correct technique (two hands, one hand underneath, one at the side of the ball). A two- handed shot is better than a one handed shot as the ball is better protected and balanced. If this technique is used then there is more spin on the ball, and the shot is easier to control. A one- handed shot is poor technique as the ball is less protected and controlled and not as much strength can be applied to the shot. In a game she did not use techniques such as a step shot, however in a practice situation she was able to successfully perform a step-shot without losing balance or control.

Moving Free

This aspect of the game was analysed mainly through observing her playing in a game. She did not have very good special awareness and wasn’t really aware of the importance of finding space around the court. She tended to move herself towards ball and crowded around the other players on the court. She did not really pay much attention to the positioning of he other players on the court; therefore she often wasn’t in the best position to receive a pass. When in a game situation she tried to signal for the ball, however her signals were not always bold /clear enough so were not noticed by the other team members. There were also occasions where she made a signal for the ball when she was not in particularly good position to receive the ball, and consequently the possession of the ball was lost to the opposition.

Throughout the game she didn’t have much change in pace around the court, which was to her disadvantage when trying to move free from her opponent. When dodging her opponent she didn’t use the correct technique and was very static. Instead of trying to fool her opponent into thinking she was moving in a different direction, her technique was just to try and move around her player and get in front of them, which wasn’t always very successful. Often in doing this she tried to obstruct the play of her opponent and infringed the contact rule, and consequently was penalised.

Marking (defence)

She does not favour defence positions, however the ability to mark/defend is necessary in any position. When playing as goalkeeper, she was not very confident. She often forgot about the 3foot rule so was penalised for contact. This was often due to a lack of balance causing her to step too close to her opponent. She didn’t have much confidence when marking the goal shooter, and did not stretch very much to mark/follow the ball. She did manage to receive a couple of rebounds in the goal circle but her reactions were not always quick enough.

Around the court, she seemed to lack in stamina and would often lose the pace of the game and her opponent would quite easily get free from her. She also tended to follow her opponent rather than leading her opponent around the court. Although this meant that she was making the effort to let her opponent get free, she also didn’t take the opportunities she had to get into a good position, and her partner had much ore control over her movement during the game. She didn’t use block marking at all when marking her opponent, which meant she wasn’t always aware what her opponent was doing, and could not mark the ball if her opponent had it. She would often stand in front of her opponent when stationary, but would forget to watch her opponent making it possible for them to move free. She would also use a side stance. This was quite good as it enabled her to watch her opponent and the game situation. She wasn’t always aware of opportunities to intercept the ball and didn’t react quickly enough or misjudged the timing of the throw, but she did make a couple of successful interceptions during the game.